CATTARINA-CORRER MUSEUM 369

to be regarded with attention, as showing how much beauty and dignity may be bestowed on a very small and unimportant dwelling-house by Gothic sculpture. Foolish criticisms upon it have appeared in English accounts of foreign buildings, objecting to it on the ground of its being “ill-proportioned;” the simple fact being, that there was no room in this part of the canal for a wider house, and that its builder made its rooms as comfortable as he could, and its windows and balconies of a convenient size for those who were to see through them, and stand on them, and left the “proportions” outside to take care of themselves; which indeed they have very sufficiently done; for though the house thus honestly confesses its diminutiveness, it is nevertheless one of the principal ornaments of the very noblest reach of the Grand Canal, and would be nearly as great a loss, if it were destroyed, as the Church of La Salute itself.¹

CONTARINI, PALAZZO, at St. Lucca.² Of no importance.

CORNER DELLA CA’ GRANDE, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal. One of the worst and coldest buildings of the central Renaissance. It is on a grand scale, and is a conspicuous object, rising over the roofs of the neighbouring houses in the various aspects of the entrance of the Grand Canal, and in the general view of Venice from San Clemente.³

CORNER DELLA REGINA, PLAZZO [XI. 150, 190]. A late Renaissance building of no merit or interest.

CORNER MOCENIGO, PALAZZO, at St. Polo. Of no interest.

CORNER SPINELLI, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal. A graceful and interesting example of the early Renaissance, remarkable for its pretty circular balconies.

CORRER MUSEUM. (Carpaccio’s portrait-study of the two ladies with their pets is the most interesting piece of his finished execution existing in Venice. The Visitation, slight but lovely. The Mantegna? or John Bellini? (the Transfiguration), of the most pathetic interest. And there are many other curious and some beautiful minor pictures. 1877.⁴)†

[CRISTOFORO, DELLA PACE, ST., X. 37.]

¹ [See Ruskin’s drawing of the house, Plate 2, opposite p. 212, in Vol. III.]

² [The reader will have noticed the large number of palaces named after the once great Contarini family. “The last of the race died in 1902 in lodgings” (Okey’s Venice, p. 265); compare Ruskin’s remarks above, p. 149 n.]

³ [This palace is now the Prefectura; and the next one in the index is the Monte di Pieta.]

⁴ [The above note was substituted in the “Travellers’ Edition” (and later issues of the complete work) for the following in eds. 1-3:-

“CORRER, RACCOLTA.-I must refer to M. Lazari’s Guide for an account of this collection, which, however, ought only to be visited if the traveller is not pressed for time.”

For Ruskin’s account of the Carpaccio in this collection, which he rated extraordinarily high, see St. Mark’s Rest, §§ 199-201; for reference to Dürer’s woodcuts of Venice, ibid., § 22 n., and Guide to the Academy at Venice. The Correr Museum now forms part of the Museo Civico in the Fondaco de’ Turchi.]

XI. 2 A

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